Sour fish soup (Canh chua cá)
Last year, in a cooking show, Luke Nguyen – the famous Vietnamese Australian chef gave an interesting comment: “If I have to choose one dish that represents the cuisine of Vietnam, I would choose sour fish soup instead of Pho as usual”. You know why? The reason is quite simple. Because there's no dish integrating enough main features of Vietnamese cuisine, such as: sweetness, sourness, spiciness like this one. And another reason is that sour fish soup is indispensable dish in Vietnamese meal. Made from available, simple ingredients but through the skillful hands of the cook, sour fish soup has always had a certain position in the Vietnamese culinary culture.
Last year, in a cooking show, Luke Nguyen – the famous Vietnamese Australian chef gave an interesting comment: “If I have to choose one dish that represents the cuisine of Vietnam, I would choose sour fish soup instead of Pho as usual”. You know why? The reason is quite simple. Because there's no dish integrating enough main features of Vietnamese cuisine, such as: sweetness, sourness, spiciness like this one. And another reason is that sour fish soup is indispensable dish in Vietnamese meal. Made from available, simple ingredients but through the skillful hands of the cook, sour fish soup has always had a certain position in the Vietnamese culinary culture.
Referring to Vietnamese cuisine, Pho is said to be not only the representative dish, but it also the national, spiritual one. But it would be a deficiency if we just select it, because Vietnamese cuisine still has a lot of excellent delegates, and one of which is sour fish soup.
There are many kinds of sour fish soups, but throughout 300 years challenge, the sour fish soup with tamarind, tomato, okra, bean sprouts, fish, chilies are considered to be the highest standard of the current one.
The Khmer people were the first to create a unique sour fish soup. Later, Kinh people – our ancestors have spent all their spirit and energy to complete sour fish soup and turn it into the special dish of our culinary culture. The sour fish soup was inspired from the cooking techniques of Chinese people, but Vietnamese people have brought it to a new level today. Perhaps the sour fish soup was born to meet all the requirements of a tropical country.
What makes it special?
If anyone has a chance to travel up and down the country – spending time in Hanoi, Hoian, Saigon, and the Mekong Delta, visiting many markets, family kitchens, coffeehouses, restaurants.... they will realize that Vietnamese dishes reflect the characteristic of each region, from the eating habit, the way they add seasonings into food, to the way they garnish. But all of the food in Vietnam came back to the perfect balance and the unique flavor.
So, what make sour fish soup special? Some people would say that it's simple, and it typically is, but never boring. The specialty is the balance of herbs, heat, sweetness, sourness, bitterness. It's all about the yin and yang, the sweet and salty, the cooling and heating. A bowl of sour fish soup is colorful, red from tomatoes, chilies, white from fish, and green from herbs... You can eat with boiled rice and clay pot fish with caramel (cá kho tộ). When eating this soup, you can serve with fish sauce added sliced chilies. Using this sauce with fish in this soup is perfect. I bet you can’t forget its flavor in tasting from the first time.
The differences between 3 area' sour soup
In tropical land, sour fish soup plays an important role in providing energy, nutrients and keeping us healthy, protecting us from many diseases.
The Northern sour soup version is gentle scent and subtle. The sourness is usually made from tamarind, starfruit, and the naturally fermented seasoning: vinegar... Vinegar is usually made at home to ensure about the quality. So the cooking process is so complex and well-sifted like any other dishes from the North.
Especially, sour fish soup from the North also has crab as a creative version of sour soup. That's why a bowl of sour fish soup with gentle sourness often brings people enjoying it an unforgettable impression.
Tart sour fish soup from the Central
If the Northern sour fish soup is elegant, that one from the Central makes a good impression on tourists by the tartness of green starfruit. Without meat, the local people just take advantage of the available seafood resources, so sour soup from here will typically rustic and simple, with a few of mussels, shrimps – but the Central sour soup still attracts tourists with all the inherent simplicity.
Sweet sour soup from the South
The sweetness taste is the first thing which comes to everybody's mind when they think of the South. The Southern people prefer sweetness, it's reflected not only through many kinds of sweet soups, but also through the daily cooking habit. This habit has created the Southern sour fish soup version is the most perfect one.
The sour fish soup here also makes tourists surprise about the rich ingredients, such as: meat, fish, crab, shrimp, tomatoes, tamarind, pineapple... Enjoying the Southern sour fish soup is enjoying the diversity of ingredients with the perfect combination between them.
Conclusion
Sticking to Vietnamese life, the sour fish soup has gradually changed through different regions and turned into a featured version. Enjoying a bowl of sour fish soup from one place, we also enjoy the essence and characteristic of that one too. So, the sour fish soup is totally worthy being one representative dish for Vietnamese culinary cuisine as what a chef named Luke Nguyen said.